The Light in Us All
by idevourbooks
Summary: I'm dying. I don't have a lot of time left. I don't feel much now-a-days. I'm ignored by everyone. But one person... they changed all of that-or at least, most of it.


_**The Light in Us All**_

It was snowing. A light dusting, if you must. The white powder coated everything – trees, sidewalks…_ my hair. _I internally roll my eyes at myself and continue to trudge through the snowy, empty streets. As I walk, I could hear the crunch of my boots making contact with the snow that most people found annoying, though I simply smile at the sound – it never really bothered me anyways.

I shimmy myself under the wire fence that separated the woods from the town and I use the fence to help me get back up before I return to my trek through the inclining forest. I make it to a small clearing that I know is the top, and I plod my way over to the single tree that stood there – the old oak tree. I press a hand against the tree's cold bark and look up at its leafless branches in awe.

I was going to miss this.

I smile sadly and carefully sit down on one of the tree's gnarly roots that was coincidentally shaped like a demented chair. There was another one, across from where I was, but no one's used that chair in years. It was my Mother's seat, and now it's no one's seat.

The wind picks up, blowing my blonde hair around me in the flurries, and I wrap my beige, wool jacket even closer to myself as I look up at the cloudy night sky. It was New Year's Eve, quite possibly my last one, and I was going to stay here until the moon's crisp light was replaced by the sun's brilliant rays on New Year's Day.

I hear the faint sound of crunching behind me and I already know who it is. _How did he notice I left? I thought I was so quiet this time, too…_ I hear the crunching stop behind me and I sigh, "Alright Dad," I say exasperatedly, "you caught me-"

I turn around to face my Father, but I'm surprised to see that the man before me did not even bear one of the same graying hairs as my Father. It was a boy, around my age, and he wore dark jeans with a black coat left carelessly undone, showing off a maroon dress shirt that just outlines his toned chest, while a scaly, white scarf was wrapped around his neck. He had the most black eyes I have ever seen and his hair was spiked up in all different directions – it was the unusual color of pink, may I add. _He's handsome…_

I nervously bite my lip, "You're not my Father."

The boy merely grins, showing off his sharp, pearly canines, "I was going to say, I don't remember having children."

I allow a small grin to grace my face as I continue to peer up at him, "Nor do you look like you could've."

He raises an entertained eyebrow at me, "Oh really?" I nod my head, "Why do you say that?"

I simply shrug at the stranger, "You seem to be the same age as me – unless you had extreme plastic surgery, but I highly doubt that."

He chuckles at me, eyes lighting with amusement, though not fully as sadness hid behind the happiness, "Nope, don't think I'll ever need plastic surgery."

I clasp my hands together, "Well there you go." I say before turning back around on my demented tree chair, my eyes finding the stars yet again as I begin to trace the constellations I knew. A few moments later, I hear some more crunching, except this time it sounds fainter, as if it was going away. I turn back around to see the boy nowhere in sight and frown. I wouldn't ever admit it aloud, but I sort of wanted him to stay.

My ear catches someone clearing their throat from behind me and I turn to see the pink haired boy yet again. Smirking, he asks smugly, "Looking for me?"

I roll my eyes at him despite the blush coating my cheeks, muttering, "You wish."

He dramatically places a hand over his heart, "I'm wounded," he utters sarcastically.

I smile up at him before I wrap my jacket closer to my freezing body and I readjust my white scarf. _It's colder than I thought. Maybe I shouldn't have come and stayed home like my father wanted. Especially in this condition-_

The boy clears his throat again, tearing me out of my thoughts. I look towards him and he points to the other root that was shaped like a demented chair – Mom's chair. "May I?"

I lick my lips nervously and play with my red, bare hands, unsure if I really wanted him to stay that badly that I would give him permission to sit_ there_ of all places. But my loneliness gets the better of me as I answer, smiling sadly at the boy, "Sure."

He gingerly sits down and looks at me, causing me to quickly avert my gaze to the sky where the few clouds there kept producing more and more flurries that got caught in my eyelashes. A few moments pass and I look back at him only to catch him staring at me. I raise a questioning brow at him, causing him to grin innocently while nervously scratching the back of his neck.

I merely roll my eyes at him before asking the first question that came to mind, "What's your name?"

He raises his pink eyebrows in surprise, "We're exchanging names now, are we?" I giggle, "Well, if you insist to know my name, it's Natsu."

"_Natsu…_" I try out his name on my tongue and it rolls off easily, causing me to settle on the fact that I like the way it sounded, "It's nice to meet you, Natsu. I'm Lucy." I say, smiling brightly at him.

I put my hand out for him to shake and he obliges to my unspoken request, reaching for my hand that was much smaller and more fragile compared to his larger one. His hand was warmer than it should be being gloveless in this weather as I also had no gloves, though my hands were ice blocks – not warm like his that easily encompassed mine. Instead of shaking my hand like any normal person, he turns my hand over and brushes his hot lips over my knuckles – something I recall people doing only hundreds of years ago.

I blush twenty shades of red as I feel my hand heat up where he touched it. He looks up at me and smiles a small smile when our eyes lock, black on brown. He eventually lets go of my hand and I place it back in my lap where it automatically turns cold again – a feeling I didn't enjoy anymore as I internally yearned for the warmth Natsu produced.

"Pleased to meet you, _Lucy_," he declares to me, whispering my name as if it were to break if he said it any louder.

I look down at my intertwined hands with my massive blush still coating my cheeks that I hoped just seemed to be my reaction from the cold to Natsu. I gulp, uttering, "Are you from around here, Natsu?"

I eye him curiously as he shakes his head, stating, "Nope, I guess I'm not really from anywhere in particular. I've been traveling most of my life, never staying in one place."

I close my eyes, picturing places I've only ever seen through reading, and sigh, "That must be nice, traveling, I mean. You get to see the world… not stay in one place too long so you can never get bored… I wish I can do that."

"Why can't you?" he asks.

I frown as I keep my eyes closed, bad memories slowly coming to mind that taint my happy and colorful imaginations. "It's… complicated." I answer softly.

"Oh come on," he says playfully, causing me to crack open an eye, "it can't be that bad."

I smile sadly, "If you say s-" as if on cue, a cough begins to rack my entire body and I try my best to cover it with my bare hands. When I pull my hands away, I can see the dark, red liquid that coats my palms and I try my best to breathe slowly and evenly as I tremble at the sight. I've learned from experience that the best thing to do in these kinds of situations is to not panic, because if I do, I end up coughing up more blood.

I shakily smile at Natsu, "S-see? N-not bad, r-right?"

"Luce…" I hear Natsu whisper as I try to jittery wipe the blood off of my hands onto my jeans, a whimper accidentally leaving my lips. Large, dark stains are left behind and I feel my pants begin to get soggy. _Ugh, I hate it when my jeans are soggy._

I look up at Natsu and see his face distorted in worry. I attempt at another smile to reassure him that I was okay and that he shouldn't worry about me, but he comes over and kneels in front of me anyways.

"I-I'm okay, d-don't worry a-about m-me," I stutter out.

When I was ten, I was diagnosed with lung cancer. That was eight years ago, meaning I've been through this so many times before. I've actually lost count, but with every single time, I still get shaken up. I mean, who wouldn't? You're coughing up blood! You shouldn't be rejoicing!

When I first got it, my Dad didn't even care. He was still grieving my Mother's death of the same cause, that he didn't even pay attention to me. Now though, years later, he's beginning to notice. He wants to keep me isolated from the world so I can't get any more sick than I already am and so I couldn't spread it to others around me. I tried to explain to him that lung cancer wasn't contagious, but he never listened.

"How can I not worry?" Natsu asks as he puts his hand under my chin to wipe away at the blood there, his eyes lingering on the scarlet liquid with an unknown emotion surfacing in his orbs before he swiftly crushes it. His eyes then flicker to meet my gaze as I stare at him incredulously, continuing to shake.

"W-why?" I ask.

He looks into my eyes, clearly confused with my question, "'Why' what?"

"Why are you worrying about m-me? You j-just met me, people who I've known f-for my entire life n-never worried until they finally gave a sh-shit about me. So, why?" I question, trying my best as to not stutter.

He smirks, his ebony eyes boring into my brown ones, "I guess I give a shit."

I giggle weakly, "Seriously though, w-why?"

He moves his hand so it cups my cheek and begins to gently stroke his calloused thumb across my cheek in a slow, comforting manner. "In my life," he begins, his eyes somewhat softening, "I've seen so many people die. Some innocent, some guilty, some close to me, and some who are strangers, and with every single one there was something that set them apart from everyone else. Some kind of light inside of them that burned to live and to experience, and when they died, that light went out." He sadly murmurs and I can't help but feel pity for him, the boy who's lost so much yet his smile can still light up an entire town, "And you," he says, staring into my eyes, "your light is brighter than anyone else's I've ever seen. It's fighting to stay alive, even though it's slowly beginning to die down. I don't want your light to go out, Luce."

I feel a tear slide down my cheek at his sincere words and he quickly wipes it away with his thumb. I stare into his onyx eyes and I can't help but believe him. This boy… this stranger… he cares more for me than anyone else I have ever known.

He's different.

He's better.

He's amazing.

"Tomorrow," I finally say, "meet me back here tomorrow."

I search his face as he searches mine, and a grin that shows off his seemingly sharper canines splits his face as he nods, "What time?"

I smile back, my smile a bit smaller than his as I tell him, "Same time as today."

"You a night person or something?" he kids, though I could see in his eyes that he wasn't really complaining.

I roll my eyes, "No, it's just the only time I'm able to come."

He smirks as he stands up, taking my hands in his to help me up, "Want me to walk you home?" he asks as I stumble a little while trying to get out of the tree's roots.

I shake my head, "It's okay, I can make it on my own."

I get caught on another tree root and almost fall until he catches me and heaves me out of the roots so I couldn't get caught anymore, "Thanks," I shyly mumble out.

He raises his eyebrows in question, "You sure you can make it home by yourself?"

I scoff, "Yes, it's just… tree roots aren't my best friends?"

He chuckles as he looks down at me and I perceive the fact that I was relatively shorter than him by a head, which somewhat ticked me off since it made me realize just how much I really was tinier than Natsu.

He winks at me, "Till tomorrow," he says before taking my cold hand in his and brushing his lips against my knuckles again, staring at me as he does it. _He's quite the charmer_, I think before he let's go of my hand and backs away, slightly bowing his head before leaving me all alone in the snowy night.

**888**

I quickly slide under the fence and get back up on the other side, frantically running through the dark woods to the oak tree. It was a warm spring night, and I could feel the affect running was having on me now-a-days. I was shorter of breath, and I knew I should've stopped to catch my breath, to continue breathing, but I had to get to Natsu now. Something… something terrible has happened and I couldn't believe it until I saw it with my own eyes.

"NATSU!" I call out for him.

No reply. I begin to become frantic, _what if what my Father said is true?_ _What if he wasn't joking when he said… when he said that Natsu…_

**FLASHBACK**

"_Dad, I'm going to bed early tonight." I told my Father, but of course I was lying. In truth, I was going to bed early so I can get out of the house earlier and go to see Natsu. Ever since the first day we met, we've gone back to the oak tree every night and have met secretly. _

_I never wanted to stop seeing Natsu, he was my silver lining, my hope to keep fighting – I had to keep seeing him. Seeing him is what kept me alive, even though it killed me as well since I couldn't bring my ventilator with me into the forest, but hey, you can't do everything, right? _

"_Lucy, I wanted to tell you something before you retire though," my Father calls to me from my frozen position with my foot on the first step of the stairs._

"_Yes?" I ask as I place my ventilator back on the ground and turn to face my Father. __**This can't be good.**_

"_I just wanted to tell you that I have to go to some investigation tomorrow morning in the woods, so I left your oxygen refills in the garage." He announces, not facing me._

_Being the curious girl I am, I ask, "What are you searching in the woods for?"_

_My Father sighs before running a hand through his graying, blonde hair and turns to face me entirely. "I trust that you won't tell anyone," __**like I can**__, "but it was a hunting accident – young Cobolt was out hunting for the first time with his father when they spotted a dear. He was about to shoot, and when he pulled the trigger, a man with what they claimed to be pink hair suddenly appeared in front of the deer and he was shot instead, though there's no evidence of there ever being a man besides a trail of blood that may just lead us to him." My eyes widen as I stare at my Father in disbelief, one word running through my head the entire time, __**Natsu**__._

"_What?" I whisper._

_My Father nods his head, "Yup, now they're asking for back up since the trail suddenly stops-"_

_I couldn't take it anymore. I turn away from my Father and I feel like puking. I swear to God I was going to be sick. I ignore my Father calling for me as I pick up my ventilator and walk up the stairs as fast as I can with the weight of it making me slower. _

_I strut to my room and lock the door behind me as I tear the endotracheal tube out of my nose. I almost gag from taking the tube out so quickly and I can't seem to breathe for a couple of seconds before I force my lungs to work on their own. _

_I turn off my ventilator and walk over to my window that I climb out of and use the tree right next to my window to climb down to solid ground. I take a few moments to catch my breath before beginning to make my way to the woods. _

_**You can't be dead, Natsu. I should be the one dead if anything. Natsu, don't do this to me. Natsu. Natsu!**_

"NATSU!" I screech again. My throat was killing me and my lungs were burning, but I didn't stop. He couldn't be… no, no, no! I should be the one dead right now, not him dammit!

"NATSU!" I shriek out for him again. _He's not answering me… he's not_ _answering me…why isn't he answering me?!_

Tears begin to form in my eyes as I still get no response. _No, no, no,_ _God no…!_ "NATSU!" I scream out once more before I feel my lungs begin to weaken. _Not yet_, I think, _come on lungs, not yet, please not yet!_

All of a sudden, I feel my foot get caught on a tree root and I feel myself go air borne as my ankle begins to throb. I brace myself for the ground and when it comes my lungs feel it, as all of the wind is knocked out of me.

_I can't breathe. I can't breathe. I can't breathe._ For normal people, a simple fall like this wouldn't do much – leave a bruise at most – but for me, with no ventilator or anything… _I'm going to die. _I think to myself, _I can't breathe and I am going to die right here in this very spot. No one is ever going to find me. I will die right here, never knowing if Natsu is still alive. I am going to die._

My lungs burn for the air I can't give it, and I feel a single tear slip down my cheek as my vision begins to blur. _I'm dying. This is it. I'm gone… forever. _

It seems like a dream, when I'm flipped over onto my back, and when the warm, calloused hands of only one person in the entire world begin to frantically shake me, and when I don't do anything, feels my neck for a pulse. _I'm still alive! _I wanted to scream, _Help me,_ _please! _But of course nothing came out and I felt as if my lungs were on fire. My vision was darkening and I could hear my heart's pounding begin to slow. _This is it._

_I'm going to die _– suddenly, my lungs fill up with air and I can feel something digging into my chest, causing my heart to jump. _What…? _I feel it happen again, and again, the process repeating itself until I muster up the strength to take in a breath of my own. I gasp in the air as best as I can as my eyes fly open, spotting a blob of pink.

"Thank God!" I hear him exclaim as he wraps his arms around me, causing me to sit up. I take in short, rapid breaths as I try to fill my lungs with as much as this precious air as possible. I stare up at the night sky and I feel my shirt beginning to get wet. I look down at my stomach where I see his forehead resting on my abdomen. I put my hand on his head and begin to comfortingly stroke his hair weakly, as I try my best to just focus on breathing at the moment.

It wasn't working.

"Natsu…" I whisper out with some difficulty. His head snaps up to my face at the sound of his name and he cups my cheek, cradling my head with his other elbow.

"Shh… it's okay, you're going to be okay," he claims as silent tears still roll down his cheeks.

"You… were shot… but you're… alive. How?" I hoarsely whisper out. It was happening again. I felt my lungs begin to give out, but before I left I had to know how he survived… how he could be here right now, holding me.

"Luce, if I tell you, do you promise to stop talking and focus on breathing?" he asks. I nod my head even though I knew I wasn't going to make it either way.

"Luce, I'm not what you think I am. I… I can't die. No matter what I do, no matter what happens to me, I can't die or get sick or anything. I'm immortal, Luce." He says as if it were a burden to him, a curse laid upon him. It seemed wonderful to me though, never suffering from illness, never having to face death, it seemed amazing to me. But then I think back to what he said when we first met – about how he's seen so many people die around him… and he can't follow. He can never die, and he will continue to see those he loves around him die.

I can feel the burning sensation begin to creep up on me again and I know I have to make this quick… my time should've been up a few minutes ago and now I was back. I guess my lungs can't take a hint, huh?

"Thank you, Natsu," I whisper as I yet again feel my heart begin to slow, "thank you for showing me how to love again." I whisper as I muster up all of my strength to pull Natsu's face towards mine, and give him a light, feathery kiss before I feel my lungs set fire.

"Thank you, for everything."

And when my lungs did give out, I welcomed the burn with open arms.

**888**

"Luce?" I whisper.

"Luce?" I ask again, her smile was fading away, her eyes didn't hold that thriving gleam in them anymore.

"LUCY!" I yell. _She has to hear me, right? She has to._

"LUCE!" I scream, shaking said blonde, "DON'T DO THIS TO ME, LUCY! YOU'RE NOT DEAD YET!"

Nothing, she just laid there, limp in my arms… not even as much as a tear running down her face. "LUCY!" I shriek, laying her back down on the ground to do CPR again. _She's not leaving. She's not leaving._ _She's not leaving._ I think as I do mouth to mouth.

"COME BACK, BABY! COME ON! COME BACK! PLEASE! GOD NO! BABY, COME ON! BREATHE BABY, BREATHE!"

She wasn't responding. Her lungs wouldn't allow my air to go back into her. Her heart wasn't contracting like it should've been. She wasn't doing anything.

"FIGHT, GODDAMMIT! FIGHT IT, LUCY!" I holler at her. My tears were falling like raindrops onto her expressionless face and I already knew she wasn't going to come back. But somewhere deep inside of me, I knew I had to fight. I was not about to let another one of the ones I love to die on me. I wouldn't allow it, I _couldn't_ allow it.

I keep doing CPR and mouth to mouth for about five minutes until I felt the hope in me finally shatter and I pick Lucy back up into my arms, and I rock us back and forth, until what I thought would never happen to me, happened.

I felt my own light go out.


End file.
